Modi met Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi during a three-day visit to Nay Pyi Taw this month after the BRICS Summit in China.

An article in the state-run Global Times said Modi’s visit to Myanmar was aimed at checking China on economic and security matters, hamper Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative and contain China’s influences in Asia.

Sitting between China and India in geography, Myanmar was susceptible to influences from both countries, it said. “Befriending the two neighbours is a strategic choice that best conforms to its national interests.”

Thus far, the article said, Myanmar had already profited from the Sino-Indian game.

Myanmar depends on India as a part of its navy modernization, reaching consensus with India on joint patrols and taking an open attitude toward India’s border corridors.

By clinching the above deals, Myanmar’s utmost motive was to win itself advanced technologies and commercial resources, rather than forging an alliance with other countries.

By cooperating with China, Myanmar can involve itself in China’s value chain of production and export its goods and services to the Chinese market, the daily said.

Therefore, although militarily supported by India, Myanmar was highly dependent on China in economic terms, the daily said.